Film & Radio

Following the success of the series, A KIDNAPPING for Radio 4’s Afternoon Drama, Andy turned it into a screenplay with John Dryden. Steve Coogan’s company Baby Cow own the rights, and aim to film this year. Steve will play the foolish school-teacher whose work in the Philippines is coming to an end. Determined to reclaim some of the money he feels he’s lost, he decides to kidnap one of his own pupils…needless to say, it all goes disasterously wrong.

So is there anything in the pipeline for Radio 4, since it leads to such fascinating developments?

‘Yes,’ says Andy. ‘And again, it’s through the hard work of Goldhawk Productions, the company that’s carved out a reputation as the most innovative creator of radio drama. ‘‘School Drama’ was broadcast in 2016, starring Tom Hollander – and it was enthusiastically received. The 2017 commissions are still being discussed, but I’m hoping to write another piece about a school, and serialize Jonathan Coe’s latest novel, ‘Number 11’. We shall see…’

MAGGOT MOON is the Carnegie Medal winning best-seller by Sally Gardner, and tells the story of another extraordinary boy: Standish Treadwell. His genius is to take on the might of a repressive regime that seems hell-bent on stifling all creativity in its ghastly pursuit of purity and technological domination. Andy is part of the team hoping to bring it to the screen.

‘The script has now been commissioned, and I’m late with it,’ he says. ‘The directors have been assigned, and the production company – Rook’s Nest – is a powerhouse. This could be ‘Brazil’ and ‘1984’ rolled up together. It’s a love story, and the novel is so rich and inspiration it has to be a movie.’